Lubricator.



o. 889,574. PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908! e. w. BLANK.

LUBRIGAT'OR.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. BLANK, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

' LUBRICATOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BLANK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Wilkinsburg, county of Allegheny, and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lubricators, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to lubricators designed for applying oil orgrease to the flanges of car wheels The primary object of my inventionis to provide a novel device by which the flanges of car wheels can beeconomically and effectually lubricated.

My invention aims to provide a device or novel equipment for cars, byvirtue of which the flan e of the wheel can be easily and quicklyubricated, while a wheel is in motion. In this connection, the inventionis intended to reduce the amount of friction between a car wheel flangeand a rail, especially upon curved sections of tracks, thereby re ducingthe wear and tear of a wheel flange and rail, and insuring safety ofrolling stock. To this end, I have constructed a simple and inexpensivedevice applicable to various types of cars, the device being easily andquickly manipulated by the motorman or operator of a car, when itisdesired to place hard grease, oil or a similar lubricant upon the flane of a car wheel. I am aware that similar devices have heretofore beendevised for accomplishing this result, but these devices have beendefective, due to the waste of lubricant, imperfect lubricant feedingmeans, and principally to clogging caused by the dust and dirt of a roadbed when rolling stock is passing over the same.

The embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a car truck, equipped with myimproved devices, illustrating one of the devices contacting with one ofthe wheels of the truck, and another device out of contact with theother wheel of the truck, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of thesame, Fig. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a lubricantreservoir constituting part of a device, Fig. 4 is an elevationillustrating a modified form of means for normally holding the lubricantreservoir in an inoperative position, Fig. 5 is a plan of a truckequipped with a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 19, 1907.

Patented June 2, 1908'.

Serial No. 398,177.

modification of my invention, Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view ofthe same, Fig. 7 is an elevation of one of the modified devices,

and Fig. 8 is a diagrammatical view illustrating a form of mechanism foractuating a lubricating device.

In the accompanying drawings, 1 desigl nates the frame of a truck havingan axle 2 journaled therein provided with wheels 3, said wheels havingperipheral inner flanges 4.

In. connection with each wheel of a car, I use a lubricating device, andto support such device in close proximity toeach wheel, I provide theframe 1 of the truck with a suitable support 5, said support carryingbrackets 6, which extend towards the axle 2 parallel with the innersides of the Wheels 3.

Pivotally connected to the inner ends of the brackets 6 as at 7 areshiftable arms 8, the said arms being normally held in'a horizontalplane through the medium of the lubricant reservoirs to be hereinafterreferred to and by the contractible springs 9, these springs having oneend secured to the brackets 6 and the other ends secured to the arms 8and so disposed that when the arms are shifted in one direction thesprings will ex lpand and when the arms are released after eing shifted,the springs 9 in connection with the lubricant reservoirs will returnthe arms 8 to their normal or horizontal position, and in lieu ofemploying the springs 9 weights 10 can be secured to the arms as clearlyshown in Fig. 4. The arms 8 are provided with straps 11 which embracethe lubricant reservoirs or tanks. As shown the lubricant reservoirs ortanks are in the form of cylinders 12 provided with heads 13 and 14threaded upon their ends. The straps 11 surround the cylinders 12 atpoints between the centers and the discharge ends thereof whereby therear ends of the cylinders will overbalance the forward ends and whicharrangement in connection with the pulling actions of the springs 9 orthe weights 10 will cause the arms 8 to assume a horizontal positionwhen the shifting means for the said arms to be hereinafter referred tois released. These reservoirs or In each reservoir or tank I place apiston 17 having a piston rod 18 extending through the head 14. Thepiston rod 18 carries an arm 19 to which is connected a cable 20, saidcable passing over a grooved pulley 21, j ournaled in brackets 22carried by the head 14 of each reservoir or tank. The cable 20 passesupwardly over pulleys 23 and through the body of the car 24, wherebysaid cable can be manipulated by the motorman or operator of a car formoving the piston 17 and the reservoir as will presently appear.

The piston 17 is employed for feeding the hard grease or lubricant tothe head 13, and to prevent said piston from receding, I attach a flatspring 25 to the head 14, said spring engaging the piston rod 18 andpreventingarearward movement of said rod, eX- cept when the spring 25 isremoved, or raised from engagement with said piston rod.

'The spring 9 and the weight 10 are adapted to retain the lubricantreservoir in a vertical position, preventing a waste of the lubricantcontained within the reservoir. When it is desired to place a quantityof the contents of a reservoir upon the flange 4 of the wheel 3, thecable 20 is pulled which swings the reservoir to a horizontal position,causing the head 3 to contact with the flange 4 of the wheel 13.Simultaneous with this movement of the reservoir, the piston 17 is movedtowards the head 13, forcing a quantity of the lubricant from thereservoir upon the flange 4 of the wheel 3. Upon the cable 20 beingreleased, the reservoir immediately assumes its normal verticalposition, but the piston rod 18 is held by the spring 20, thuspreventing a receding movement of the piston 17.

From the above description taken in connection with the drawings, itwill be observed that the lubricating device as described swings in avertical plane, but owing to the peculiar construction of some cars andtrucks it may not be possible to so move a lubricant reservoir. For thisreason, I have constructed the device to swing upon a horizontal plane,as illustrated in Figs. 5 to 6 inclusive, the construction beingpractically the same, and the mechanism arranged to swing a reservoir inthe proper direction to engage the flange of a wheel.

It is therefore evident that I have devised l a novel swinging, manuallyoperated lubricating device that can be used at any desired time, thedevice being normally maintained in an inactive position and manuallythrown into an active position. By the simultaneous operation of feedinga lubricant from the reservoir, and of moving the reservoir in positionto contact with the flange of the wheel, I reduce the number ofstructural elements of such device and insure positive means of ejectinga certain quantity of lubricant from the device.

I do not care to confine myself to the manner in which the devices aresupported from a car, truck, body or frame, or to any structural changesas. are permissible by the appended claims.

Having now described my invention what 'ervoirs, one of said headshaving openings formed therein and a concavity for receiving the flangeof a wheel, pistons mounted in said reservoirs, means for simultaneouslymoving said pistons and said reservoirs, means for preventing a recedingmovement of said pistons, and means for normally retaining said arms ina horizontal position.

2. The combination with a wheeled truck, of brackets supported from saidtruck, arms pivotally connected to said brackets, reservoirs carried bysaid arms, one end of each of said reservoirs having openings formedtherein and a concavity for receiving the flange of a wheel, pistonsmounted in said reservoirs, means for simultaneously moving said pistonsand said reservoirs for lubricating the wheels of the truck, means forpreventing a receding movement of said pistons, and means for normallyretaining said arms in a horizontal position.

3. The combination with a truck and the flanged wheels thereof, ofbrackets supported from said truck, arms pivotally carried by saidbrackets, lubricant reservoirs carried by I said arms, detachable headscarried by said reservoirs, one of said heads having a plurality of.openings formed therein, and lpis tons arranged in said reservoirs forfeering the contents thereof from said reservoirs, means forsimultaneously moving said reservoirs and said pistons, means forpreventing a receding movement of said pistons, and means for normallyholding said reservoirs out of contact with said wheels.

} 4. The combination with a truck and the.

flanged wheels thereof, of cylindrical reservoirs pivotally supportedfrom said trucks, and ada ted to engage said wheels, pistons arranged insaid reservoirs for feeding the contents thereof on to said wheels,means for simultaneously moving said pistons, and said reservoirs, andmeans for normally holding said reservoirs out of engagement with saidwheels.

5. The combination with a truck and the wheels thereof, of lubricantreservoirs pivotally supported adjacent to said wheels and adapted tocontact therewith, pistons located in said reservoirs for forcinglubricant therefrom, means for simultaneously moving said ,WV 1 pistonsand said reservoirs, and means for normally holding said reservoirs outof contact with said wheels.

6. A lubricating device for wheels comprising a pivotally mountedlubricant reser- Jj voir adapted to contact with a wheel, a pistonmovably mounted in said reservoir for forcing the contents therefrom,means for simultaneously moving said reservoir and said piston, andmeans for normally holding said reservoir in an inactive position.

7. A lubricator of the type described comprising a pivoted lubricantreservoir provided with a piston, and means for simultaneously shiftingsaid piston to discharge the contents of the reservoir and for movingsaid reservoir to an active position.

8. A lubricator of the ty e described comprising a reservoir normal ysupported in a vertical position and provided With a piston, and meansfor moving said reservoir to a horizontal position and for moving saidpiston to discharge the contents of the reservoir.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGE W. BLANK.

Witnesses:

MAX H. SRoLovITz, A. J. TRIGG.

